Second Stage Theater Announces Complete Casting for THE VISITORS

Second Stage Theater (Evan Cabnet, Artistic Director; Adam Siegel, Executive Director) has announced complete casting for its upcoming production of Bryna Turner’s World Premiere play, THE VISITORS, directed by Jenna Worsham.

The company will feature Esco Jouléy (Wolf Play, “Dying for Sex”), Celia Keenan-Bolger (2ST’s Mother Play, Tony Award-winner for To Kill A Mockingbird), Will Pullen (2ST’s The Receptionist, Apple TV’s “Dope Thief”), Mary Wiseman (Thérèse Raquin, “Star Trek: Discovery”), and Danny Wolohan (To Kill a Mockingbird, Macbeth).

THE VISITORS will begin previews Wednesday, October 21st and will officially open on Monday, November 9th on The Irene Diamond Stage at the Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street). Single tickets are available at 2ST.com <http://2st.com/>. Discounts are available for groups of ten or more. For more information on group booking, email groups@2st.com <mailto:groups@2st.com>.

Joanna is in her mid-thirties and eager to become a parent. When she invites her three siblings to her New York City apartment to ask them for a shocking favor, they’re all forced to get to know each other as adults – but whether they’ll emerge from the visit closer or more at odds than ever is anyone’s guess. From playwright Bryna Turner and director Jenna Worsham, the acclaimed team behind New York Times Critic's Pick At the Wedding, comes THE VISITORS, a wry, heartfelt world premiere comedy-drama about finally meeting the people you’ve known your whole life.

THE VISITORS will feature scenic design by Kate Noll, costume design by Asta Bennie Hotstetter, lighting design by Stacey Derosier, and sound design by Fan Zheng. Casting by Daniel Swee, CSA.

ABOUT SECOND STAGE THEATER’S CURRENT SEASON

In addition to THE VISITORS, Second Stage Theater’s 2026-27 Broadway season will include the Broadway premiere of the beloved Tom Jones/Harvey Schmidt musical THE FANTASTICKS, in a new production reconceived by Jones himself, directed by Tony Award-winner Christopher Gattelli (Schmigadoon!). The production begins previews in October at Second Stage’s Broadway home, The Hayes Theater.

The Hayes will also welcome the return of Pulitzer Prize and two-time Tony Award winner Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, when his Pulitzer finalist play, GLORIA, receives its Broadway debut, directed by Second Stage Artistic Director Evan Cabnet. The production, which will begin previews in March 2027 and open in early April, will reunite Jacobs-Jenkins and Cabnet, who collaborated on the play’s 2015 world premiere off-Broadway production as well as its 2017 Chicago staging.

Second Stage’s off-Broadway lineup will feature two additional world premiere productions, both coming in 2027: Miranda Rose Hall’s WORK OF DEVOTION, directed by Shayok Misha Chowdhury, premiering in February, followed by the world premiere ofNaomi Lorrain’s HOW TO ROLL A BLUNT, directed by Colette Robert. The comedy, which was the standout in Second Stage’s Judith Champion Reading Series for emerging playwrights, will run in April 2027 on the Irene Diamond Stage at the Pershing Square Signature Center.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

ESCO JOULÉY won over audiences as "Sonya" in the Emmy-nominated FX series “Dying for Sex,” alongside Michelle Williams and Jenny Slate, and previously starred in the Sundance series “State of the Union,” opposite Patricia Clarkson and Brendan Gleeson. On stage, Esco recently appeared in Windfall at Steppenwolf Theater, Trophy Boys at MCC Theater, and earned rave reviews for their "magnetic" performance in Merry Me and their award-winning turn in Wolf Play.

CELIA KEENAN-BOLGER. Broadway: Mother Play, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Glass Menagerie, The Cherry Orchard, Peter and the Starcatcher, Les Misérables, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Off-Broadway performed at The Public, Playwrights Horizons, LCT, 2ST, NYTW, and NYCC Encores. Recent Film/TV: “The Gilded Age,” “Devil in Silver,” “The Good Wife,” “Line Of Fire.” Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Theater World Award-winner. Isabelle Stevenson Tony award and NYCLU Michael Friedman Freedom award recipient. She is trained as an end-of-life doula.

WILL PULLEN. Broadway: Awake & Sing (upcoming), To Kill a Mockingbird, Sweat. Off-Broadway: The Receptionist (Second Stage), Sweat (The Public), Punk Rock (MCC), The Wayside Motor Inn (Signature), Your Mother’s Copy of the Kama Sutra (Playwrights Horizons), Marie Antoinette (Soho Rep), Scarcity (Rattlestick). Film: Greyhound 2, Lilly, A Little Prayer, Midday Black Midnight Blue, The Unforgivable, Greyhound, Goat. TV: “Gilded Age,” “Dope Thief,” “Dickinson,” “The Americans,” “The Devil You Know,” “The Good Wife,” “Elementary.”

MARY WISEMAN. Broadway: Thérèse Raquin. Off-Broadway: Business Ideas (Clubbed Thumb); Translations (Irish Rep); At the Wedding (LCT3); The Skin of Our Teeth (TFANA); Romance Novels for Dummies, Off the Main Road (Williamstown Theatre Festival); An Octoroon (Soho Rep, TFANA). TV/Film: Office Romance, “Devil in Disguise,” “The Residence,” “Star Trek,” “Star Trek Academy,” Marriage Story, “Room 104,” “Baskets,” “Longmire,” “Difficult People,” “The Characters.” Education: Juilliard. Awards: Little Miss Pike County 1991.

DANNY WOLOHAN. Broadway: Camelot, Macbeth, West Side Story, To Kill a Mockingbird. Off-Broadway: Derangements, Spain, The Welkin, The Low Road, Assassins, An Octoroon, The Flick, Pocatello, Verité. Regional: Dolly: A True Original Musical, What the Constitution Means to Me, Court Life, Gnit, Verité. TV: “The Gilded Age,” “Evil,” “When They See Us,” “The Blacklist,” “Orange is the New Black,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Elementary,” “Veep,” and “The Good Fight.” Film: Union County (Sundance 2026), The Chaperones, White Noise, Szypliszki.

BRYNA TURNER (Playwright) is an award-winning playwright originally from Northern California. Their plays include Bull in a China Shop (LCT3, About Face, Aurora, Diversionary, and many more); At the Wedding (LCT3, Studio Theatre, TheatreSquared); and Phases of the Moon. Honors include: the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation’s Theatre Visions Award, Lincoln Center Theatre’s Emerging Artist Award, a MacDowell Fellowship, and a New Roots Residency. They are a member/alum of: New Dramatists, WP Theater Lab, and Clubbed Thumb’s Early Career Writers Group. They are currently under commission by Lincoln Center. BA: Mount Holyoke College. MFA: Rutgers University www.brynaturner.com <http://www.brynaturner.com/>

JENNA WORSHAM (Director). Select directing: Lagniappe (NYSAF); At The Wedding (Lincoln Center, NYT Critic’s Pick); TheSiblings Play (Rattlestick Theater); Agnes (59E59, NYT Critic’s Pick); Belleville (Pasadena Playhouse); Superstitions (New Georges/Pool Plays); Summer’s Soldier and The First Immigrant (Williamstown); The Climb (Cherry Lane); Street Children (NYT Critic’s Pick). Broadway: Picnic, The Parisian Woman, The Heidi Chronicles. Jenna’s plays include: The Fifth (Venturous Fellowship nomination, Relentless Award Summer Series, O’Neill Semi-Finalist); Lacuna (OPC Finalist); Game (Rattlestick, SPACE on Ryder Farm). Co-founder of New Roots <https://www.walhallafarms.org/> LGBTQIA+ artist residency and Co-creator of The Homebound Project <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/28/theater/homebound-project-no-kid-hungry-virus.html> with No Kid Hungry. National Directing Fellowship, Drama League & Boris Sagal Fellowship, Jonathan Alper Award (MTC). Proud member of SDC. Represented by Emma Feiwel (WME).

* * * * * * This production is supported by The Laurents/Hatcher Foundation via a Theater Development Grant. This season is sponsored by the Howard Gilman Foundation.

Second Stage Theater's programs are made possible by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

ABOUT SECOND STAGE THEATER

Now entering its 48th season, Second Stage Theater is dedicated to producing modern plays and musicals from contemporary American writers. The 2026/27 season is the second under the leadership of Artistic Director, Evan Cabnet, and Executive Director, Adam Siegel.

Founded in 1979, Second Stage began producing in the McGinn Cazale Theater on the upper west side in 1982. Notable productions from this period include This Is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan; Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants by Ricky Jay; Coastal Disturbances by Tina Howe; and Crumbs from the Table of Joy by Lynn Nottage.  In its early years, Second Stage worked with many actors, directors, and playwrights who would go on to illustrious careers in American theater, including Jeff Daniels, Annette Bening, Angela Bassett, Kate Nelligan, Nathan Lane, Austin Pendleton, Kevin Bacon, Judith Ivey, Frances Conroy, Betty Buckley, Cynthia Nixon, Dianne Wiest, and Laurence Fishburne, among many others.

In 1999, Second Stage renovated and took up residence at the Tony Kiser Theater in midtown. Production highlights at the Kiser include Jitney by August Wilson; Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin; Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey; The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz;By The Way, Meet Vera Stark by Lynn Nottage; Dear Evan Hansen by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and many more. The McGinn Cazale Theater became home to the company’s ‘Uptown Series’, where such notable writers as Rajiv Joseph, Bess Wohl, Adam Bock, and Leslye Headland debuted new productions.

In 2015, Second Stage acquired and renovated the Hayes Theater, bringing its dedication to producing new American plays to Broadway. The inaugural production in 2017 was Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero, followed by Young Jean Lee’s Straight White Men. Notable Second Stage productions at the Hayes include Appropriate by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (2024 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play); Take Me Out by Richard Greenberg (2022 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play);  Linda Vista by Tracy Letts;  Grand Horizons by Bess Wohl; Clyde’s by Lynn Nottage;  Between Riverside and Crazy by Stephen Adly Guirguis; The Thanksgiving Play by Larissa FastHorse; Mother Play by Paula Vogel; Cult of Love by Leslye Headland; Marjorie Prime by Jordan Harrison; and Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo.

Since its founding, Second Stage’s productions have had the distinction of being recognized by 22 Tony Awards, 57 nominations, 29 Obie Awards including a special citation in 2017, 17 Lucille Lortel Awards, 13 Drama Desk Awards, 8 Outer Critics Circle Awards, 23 AUDELCO awards, three Pulitzer Prize winners, and four Pulitzer Prize finalists.